UMKC alum indicted after allegedly practicing law illegally

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A southeast Missouri man faced federal fraud charges linked to what prosecutors said was his practicing of law even though he wasn't a licensed attorney.

A grand jury in St. Louis indicted 50-year-old James Michael Arnold of Sikeston on five felony counts of mail fraud. He was also charged with three counts of failure to file tax returns and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

Federal prosecutors said Arnold graduated from law school at the University of Missouri in Kansas City in 1992, but he never passed the Missouri Bar Examination and was never licensed to practice law in Missouri.

Authorities said over a four-year span ending in January 2014, he defrauded more than $350,000 as an illegal attorney.